Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-11-10

Tue Oudl, WOIudu.
The men hesitated, as well they might
'sWill We do my bidding" she said again
it the same voice, cor will We not?"
Then they advanced upon the girl with
uplifted spears. By this time Sir Henry
had recovered himself, and saw that the
comedy was likely to turn into a tragedy.
Stand back" he said in a voice of thun-
der, at the same time getting in front of
the terrified girl ssShame on thee, Ny
leptha-shame! Thou shalt not kill her."
Doubtless thou hast good reason to try
to protect her. Thou couldst hardly do
less in HONOR" answered the Infatuated
queen; "but she shall die-she shall die,''
and she stamped her little foot.
at is well, +" he answered, ''then 1 will
| die with her. / am thy servant, oh queen;
do with me even as thou wilt and he
bowed toward her, and fixed his clear eyes
contemptuously on her face
'Icould wish to slay thee. too'' she an
swered, "for thou dost make a mock of
me-" and then feeling that she was mas
tered, and / suppose not knowing what
else to do, she burst into such storm of
tears, and looked so royalty lovely in her
passionate distress that, old as | am, Unjust
say I envied Curtis his task of supporting
her. 1t was rather odd to see him holding
her in his arms, considering what had just
passed; thought that seemed to occur to
herself, for presently she wrenched herself
free and went, leaving Us all much dis
turbed.
Presently, however, one of the guards
returned with a message to the girls that
| they were, on pain of death, to leave the
city and return to their homes in the coun-
try and that no further harm would come
to them; and accordingly they yent, one
of them remarking philosophically that it
could not be helped and that it was a sat
isfaction to know that they had taught us
little serviceable Zu-Vendi Mine was
an exceedingly nice girl, and overlooking
the cockroach, I made her a present Of my
favorite lucky siXpence with a hole in it
when she went away. After that our
former masters resumed their course of
instruction, needless to say to my great re-
lief
That night, when in fear and trembling
we attended the royal supper-table, we
found that Nyleptha was laid up with q
| bad headache. That headache lasted for
three whole days; but on the fourth she
was present at supper as usual, and with
| the most sweet and gracious smile gave
Sir Henry her hand to lead her to the
| table. No alluSion was made to the little
affair described above beyond her saying,
| with a charming air of innocence, that
| when she came to see us at our studies the
other day she had been seized with a giddi-
| ness from which she had only now recov-
cred. She supposed, she added with a
| touch of the humor that was common to
her, that it was the sight of people working
so hard which had affected her.
| In reply, Sir Henry said, dryly, that he
had thought she did not look quite herself
! on that day; whereat she flashed one of
| those quick glances of hers at him, which,
| if he had the feelings of man, must have
| gone through him like knife, and the
subject dropped entirely. Indeed, after
the supper was over, Nyleptha condescend-
| ed to put us through an examination to
| see what we had learned, and to express
| herself well satisfied with the results. In
| deed, she proceeded to give us, especially
| Sir Henry, a lesson on her own account,
and very interesting we found it.
| And all the while that we talked, or
rather tried to talk, and laughed, Sorais
would sit there in her carven ivory chair,
| and look at us and read US all like book,
only from time to time saying few words,
and smiling that quick ominous smile of
| hers which was more like flash of sum-
mer lightning on dark cloud than any
| thing else. And as near to her as he dared
would sit Good, worshiping through his
| eyeglass, for he really was getting serious
| ly devoted to this somber beauty, of whom,
speaking personally, I felt terribly afraid.
l watched her keenly, and soon I found
out that, for all her apparent impassibility,
| she was at heat bitterly Jealous of Nylep-
tina. Another thing found out, and the
| discovery filled me with dismay, and that
was that she also was growing devoted to
| Sir Henry Curtis. OF course, 1 could not
be sure; it is not easy to read so cold and
naughty woman, but / noticed one or
two little things; and, as elephant-hunters
know, dried grass shows which way the
| wind has set.
And so another three months passed over
us, by which time we had all attained to a
| very considerable mastery of the Zu-Vendi
language, which is an easy one to learn
And, as the time went on, we became great
favorites with the people, and even with
the courtiers, gaining an enormous repu-
tation for cleverness, because, as [ think l
have said, Sir Henry was able to show
GueIn HOW 10 Lldh0 glass, WHICH WAS a ma
tional want, and also, by the help of a
twenty-year almanac that we had with US,
to predict various heavenly combinations
which were quite unsupported by the ma
tive astronomers. We even succeeded in
demonstrating the principle of the steam
engine to IA gathering of the learned men,
who were filed with amazement; and sew
eral other things of the same sort we did.
And SO it came about that the people made
up their minds that we must on no account
be allowed to go out of the country (Which
indeed, was an apparent impossibility even
if we had wished it}, and we were afivaure,j
to great honor, and made officers of the
body-guards of the sister queens, while
permanent quarters were assigned to us in
the palace and our opinion was asked upon
questions of national policy.
(To be continued.i
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